There is a need in the medical profession for a medical wellness parameters management system, apparatus and method capable of monitoring and transmitting physiological and wellness parameters of ambulatory patients to a remote central computer site where a medical professional caregiver evaluates such physiological and wellness parameters. Specifically, there is a need for an interactive apparatus that is in communication with a remote central computer coupled to a database, the central computer also being in communication with a plurality of workstations, such that a medical professional caregiver can manage, supervise and provide medical treatment to remotely located ambulatory patients.
There is needed a system including an apparatus that monitors and transmits physiological and wellness parameters of ambulatory patients to a remote computer, whereby the wellness parameters are evaluated and stored in a main database. There is also needed as part of the system a plurality of workstations located remote from the central computer whereby a medical professional caregiver enters data into the database and evaluates reports issued by the central computer and provokes better overall health care and treatment for the patient. Accordingly, such a system can be used to prevent unnecessary hospitalizations of such ambulatory patients.
Patients suffering from chronic diseases, such as congestive heart failure, will benefit from such home monitoring apparatus. These patients normally undergo drug therapy and lifestyle changes to manage their medical condition. In these patients, the medical professional caregiver monitors certain wellness parameters and symptoms including: weakness, fatigue, weight gain, edema, dyspnea (difficulty breathing or shortness of breath), nocturnal cough, orthopnea (inability to lie flat in bed because of shortness of breath), and paroxysmal nocturnal dyspnea (awakening short of breath relieved by sitting or standing); body weight to measure the response of drug therapy; oxygen saturation levels; blood pressure; and heart rate. Patients will also benefit from daily reminders to take medications (improving compliance), reduce sodium intake and/or perform some type of exercise. With the information received from the monitoring device, the medical professional caregiver can determine the effectiveness of the drug therapy, the patient""s condition, whether the patient""s condition is improving or whether the patient requires hospitalization or an office consultation to prevent the condition from getting worse.
Accordingly, there is needed a system, apparatus and method for monitoring the patients from a remote location, maintaining a database of wellness parameters and communicating with workstations located at clinics, hospitals, emergency rooms located remote from the central computer and Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs). Thus, allowing medical professional caregivers to monitor and manage a patient""s condition to reduce hospitalizations by early identification of symptoms and weight changes to prevent unnecessary hospitalizations and office visits and providing immediate feedback of a patient""s status thus allowing medication and fluid adjustments to be made over the telephone.
There also needed a system, apparatus and method to allow medical professional caregivers to decrease management expenses and manage patient""s more efficiently by utilizing automatic symptom and weight variance identification and thereby directing attention only to patients in need of assistance. There is also needed a system that that issues comprehensive exception reports providing 21-day symptom, weight, and hospitalization information; current medication list with dosage and frequency; and descriptive operator comments.
Furthermore, there is needed a system, apparatus and method that issues trend reports for any period of a patient or group of patients"" enrollment. Thus allowing a medical professional caregiver to select from reports on: weight, symptoms, hospitalizations and emergency room visits.
The patient receives the benefits of improved health when the professional caregiver is able to monitor and quickly react to any adverse medical conditions of the patient or to any improper responses to medication. Also, society benefits because hospital resources will not be utilized unnecessarily.
As a group, patients suffering from chronic diseases, such as congestive heart failure, are the most costly to treat. There are approximately 5 million patients in the U.S.A. and 15 million worldwide with chronic diseases, such as congestive heart failure. The mortality rate of patients over 65 years of age is 50%. Of those that seek medical help and are hospitalized, 50% are rehospitalized within 6 months. Of these, 16% will be rehospitalized twice. The patients that are hospitalized spend an average of 9.1 days in the hospital at a cost of $12,000.00 for the period. Accordingly, there is a need to reduce the rehospitalization rate of congestive heart failure patients by providing improved in-home patient monitoring, such as frequently monitoring the patient""s body weight and adjusting the drug therapy accordingly.
Approximately 60 million American adults ages 20 through 74 are overweight. Obesity is a known risk factor for heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, gallbladder disease, arthritis, breathing problems, and some forms of cancer such as breast and colon cancer. Americans spend $33 billion dollars annually on weight-reduction products and services, including diet foods, products and programs.
For the foregoing reasons, there is a need for a management system, apparatus and method capable of monitoring and transmitting physiological and wellness parameters of ambulatory patients to a remote central computer site where a medical professional caregiver or case manager evaluates such physiological and wellness parameter and provides treatment accordingly.
To overcome the limitations in the prior art described above and to overcome other limitations that will become apparent upon reading and understanding the present specification, the system, method, apparatus and article of manufacture having features of the invention provide a medical system, method, apparatus and article of manufacturing for monitoring and managing one or more ambulatory patients on a computer and allowing a caregiver to review the ambulatory patients"" wellness parameters to provide treatment in accordance with the wellness parameter.
In accordance with one embodiment of the invention, a medical system for monitoring and managing one or more ambulatory patients on a computer and allowing a caregiver to review the ambulatory patients"" wellness parameters to provide treatment in accordance with the wellness parameters is provided. The system includes, a patient monitoring apparatus having a first communication device associated therewith for monitoring a patient""s wellness parameters. A central computer located remote from the monitoring apparatus and in communication therewith, the central computer having a second communication device associated therewith for communicating wellness parameters and treatment data over a communications link established between the central computer and the monitoring apparatus, the central computer being operated for querying the patient via the patient monitoring apparatus, receiving and processing measured wellness parameters from the monitoring apparatus and calculating a score according to the wellness parameters. A main database coupled to the central computer having patient medical records stored therein and one or more computer workstations located remote from the central computer and in communication therewith, the one or more computers having a third communication device associated therewith for communicating physical examination data between the central computer and the one or more workstations over a communication link established therebetween. The score calculated by the central computer according to the wellness parameters is compared with a predetermined value, and based on the results of the comparison the central computer issuing an exception report and communicating the exception report to the one or more workstations located remote therefrom, whereby a caregiver located at the remote workstation site is notified of the exception report.
In accordance with another embodiment of the invention, a method for monitoring and managing one or more ambulatory patients on a computer and allowing a caregiver to review the ambulatory patients"" wellness parameters to provide treatment in accordance with the wellness parameters is provided. The method includes receiving a patient""s wellness parameters at a central computer from a patient monitoring apparatus located remote therefrom, creating a patient medical record in a database coupled to the central computer and storing the patient""s wellness parameters received from the monitoring apparatus into the database, monitoring the patient""s status, calculating a score with the central computer based on the patient""s wellness parameters, comparing the score with a predetermined value and based on the results of the comparison, issuing an exception report and communicating the exception report to one or more workstations located remote from the central computer, whereby a caregiver is notified of the exception report.
In accordance with a further embodiment of the invention, an apparatus for monitoring and managing one or more ambulatory patients on a computer and allowing a caregiver to review the ambulatory patients"" wellness parameters to provide treatment in accordance with the wellness parameters is provided. The apparatus includes a central computer located remote from a patient monitoring apparatus and in communication therewith, the central computer having a communication device associated therewith for communicating wellness parameters and treatment data over a communications link established between the central computer and the monitoring apparatus, the central computer being operated to query the patient via the patient monitoring apparatus, receiving and processing measured wellness parameters from the monitoring apparatus and calculating a score according to the wellness parameters received by the computer system, the computer system having one or more storage devices coupled thereto. The apparatus further includes one or more computer programs, performed by the central computer for receiving a patient""s wellness parameters at a central computer from a patient monitoring apparatus located remote therefrom, creating a patient medical record in a database coupled to the central computer and storing the patient""s wellness parameters received from the monitoring apparatus into the database, monitoring the patient""s status, calculating a score with the central computer based on the patient""s wellness parameters, comparing the score with a predetermined value and based on the results of the comparison, issuing an exception report and communicating the exception report to one or more workstations located remote from the central computer, whereby a caregiver is notified of the exception report.
In accordance with yet another embodiment of the invention, an article of manufacture comprising a computer program carrier readable by a computer system having one or more processors and embodying one or more instructions executable by the computer system to perform a method for monitoring and managing one or more ambulatory patients on a computer and allowing a caregiver to review the ambulatory patients"" wellness parameters and provide treatment in accordance with the wellness parameters is provided. The method includes receiving a patient""s wellness parameters at a central computer from a patient monitoring apparatus located remote therefrom, creating a patient medical record in a database coupled to the central computer and storing the patient""s wellness parameters received from the monitoring apparatus into the database, monitoring the patient""s status, calculating a score with the central computer based on the patient""s wellness parameters, comparing the score with a predetermined value and based on the results of the comparison, issuing an exception report and communicating the exception report to one or more workstations located remote from the central computer, whereby a caregiver is notified of the exception report.